by John Conroe
“It acts just like you’d imagine a flying creature to act… why?” Darci spoke suddenly. She’d been quiet, just watching, which made me really nervous.
“I wrote his spells to act like a dragon should act… at least, what I think a dragon should do,” I said. “The spells kind of learn as they go.”
“Like a computer… like artificial intelligence?” Levi asked.
I shrugged but Aunt Ash answered before I could speak. “Not precisely. Declan writes spells like he writes the codes that built our website, but this is different… and so, I believe, is the other one… the giant.”
“What do you mean?” Darci asked.
“Both the dragon and the giant man have something in them that’s beyond the spells and the Craft.”
This was news to me. My aunt had never shared that detail before.
“A spirit?” Levi asked, his voice anxious.
“Not exactly. Something more.”
“What’s more than a spirit?” Levi demanded, backing up a step. I’ve never seen him afraid before, but it seemed like he was.
“Not what you’re thinking!” Ashling said, shaking her head vehemently. “Never that! This is something natural, something that’s already a part of this world.”
“Why did it attack?” Darci asked.
“Attack? Did it attack you, did it? Was I somewhere else when that happened?”
Darci frowned right back at my aunt. “It came charging up the hill.”
“Declan, was that as fast as your creation can go?” my aunt asked, never taking her eyes from Darci’s.
“No. I don’t think so. He doesn’t usually move fast but there was a tree that started to fall toward me, and his arm knocked it aside very, very fast.”
“So, what was he doing, lad?”
I took a breath. “I got upset. You two were beginning to fight and I was the cause. And then they were going to get scared of us… me. I think he felt that and came to see if I was in trouble.”
“Would he attack Darci?”
“No. His spells, like Draco’s, include Darci and Levi as people to protect and listen to.”
“Oh? So what would it have done?”
“Well, Rory’s family has that female Doberman, Chella. She’s protection trained. If Rory and I get arguing over something, like a movie or something, she jumps up on the couch between us. That’s because she knows I’m a friend. I watch and feed her when they go away. I’m part of her pack. So, she wouldn’t attack, but she tries to separate us. I put something like that into his spells.”
Ashling turned her eyes back to Darci, who stood, arms crossed, staring in turn at me.
“What else?” she asked. “What other clever tricks can you do.”
I almost bristled at the term tricks, but a split second later, I realized she was deliberately downplaying my abilities.
I pulled a log off the nearest pile with telekinesis, holding it six feet in front of me, about eight feet off the ground. Then I focused all the heat I had absorbed and added a bit more from my reserves. The split piece of beech burst into flames, completely engulfed almost instantly. I’d pushed a little hard, deliberately overpowering the spell.
“Recycle it, lad,” my aunt said.
Oops. I gathered the heat my floating bonfire was emitting and pushed it back into the log, creating a loop. The flare of warmth against my face dropped to almost nothing even as the log flared to white hot, rapidly consumed to just ash in less than a minute.
The smoke filled the rafters, pressing down toward us, and my aunt waved a hand, sending a cool wind through the building. Like a well-trained dog, the stream of sooty gases obediently left the old structure in a twisting cord of smoke.
Despite her tough act, Darci looked a little shaken.
“You must be great on rainy campouts,” Levi said, his own voice mostly even.
Now it was Ashling’s turn to fold her arms across her chest as she watched and waited for Darci’s reaction. For her part, the deputy was looking at the pile of ash on the ground, her expression unreadable.
“That’s, ah, normal?” she finally asked.
“Not remotely,” my aunt said. “There are whole circles who would have trouble raising and channeling that power.”
It was Levi who broke the quiet next. “Well, it’s no wonder he made that golem.”
“What?” my aunt asked, rounding on him.
“Look how much wood you have here,” he said, waving a hand. “I’m exhausted just looking at it. It would take two men with chainsaws and a four-wheeler a solid week to cut, split, and haul this much wood. He’s not even a teenager yet.”
Ashling looked surprised at his words, then she turned and took in the stacks of cordwood, a frown forming on her brow.
“You’re saying I’ve demanded too much of me nephew,” she said.
“Ashling, this is enough wood for all your heating needs for the whole winter. I’ve seen his gear—an axe, an old saw, and a pull sled. I thought it was just a character-building thing, not child labor.” He smiled as he said it, but my aunt looked a little hurt. She turned to me.
“Declan, I think perhaps I’ve been a wee bit demanding of ya. I forgot that your physical horsepower doesn’t match your Crafting horsepower.”
“Does that mean I can keep using Robbie?”
“Child, you don’t even know what ye’ve done, making that thing. I don’t know what ye’ve done. The little dragon was one thing, but a giant of wood and dirt… don’t ye think it will be noticed?”
“I got him some old clothes today. He’ll look like just a big man… at least from a distance.”
She gave me a level look, the kind that demand I examine my words and thoughts. “Do you really believe that, lad?”
Deep down, I knew better. “But what do I do with him?”
“Let him rest in his forest, lad. I’ll wager you made him near that old stone fence pile, didn’t ya?”
“Yeah. That’s where I cut up my wood.”
“And where ya go to daydream. Did ya ever wonder why ya like it so much?”
“It’s just very comforting. Relaxing.”
“On account of what has lived in the earth there and now lives in your dirt man. Put it back, lad. Let it rest where it loves to be. And we’ll get a wee tractor.”
“And a chainsaw,” Levi said, immediately holding up one hand to forestall my aunt’s protest.
“I’ll teach him and supervise its use. Honestly, Ashling, if he can be trusted with such power, he can be trusted with a tool.”
I waited, breathless, for her reaction. When she nodded, I got excited… until I noticed Darci staring at me, her head tilted a little. She hadn’t spoken in a while. Now she was frowning, her eyes on me, but I’m not sure she was seeing me.
“How?” she said. I had no idea what she was talking about.
“How what, dear?” my aunt asked, all calm and patient.
“I knew you had abilities, have seen you find missing people like you have GPS trackers on everyone, even seen you blow smoke away, blow wind in a face or two, but this…”
“This isn’t natural even for the supernatural, is that your point?” my aunt asked softly.
“It’s crazy. He floated a log and burnt it to a crisp in seconds. Do you have any idea of what the government… what any government would do to control that kind of power?” Darci asked.
“Oh, but I do, dear, I really do. Which is why we’re in hiding, why we hide our abilities, or at least are supposed to be hiding,” Ash said, her eyes zeroing on me at the last.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Ash. I was real careful.”
“I know, lad, but even your careful casting is enough to send ripples like a great boulder dropped in a pond. As I’ve told ya, you’re not a regular witch.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Oh, now come the ma’ams do they?” she asked, but I could tell she wasn’t mad, or at least not real mad. Maybe worried. “Now, how about you run down and put your fri
end back into the Earth where he belongs, where he’s most comfortable?”
“Yes ma’a… yes, Aunt Ash.” I turned and took off, eager to escape the tension. But my hearing was good and the barn walls were worn and holey.
“He seems like just a kid, but he can do crazy things,” Darci said, her voice quiet but not quiet enough.
“He’s a great kid, Darci dear, and he’s here for a reason,” my aunt said. I slowed my feet, knowing that listening wasn’t a great idea, but too curious to ignore the opportunity.
“He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever met,” Levi said. “But what reason could there be for him to have what he has?”
“Have ya heard me tell him time and again of the three-fold rule?”
“Yeah,” Darci responded. “Over and over.”
“It’s a real thing, Darci, and he’s the very proof of it.”
“What’s that mean?”
“For hundreds of years, witches have only taken each other as mates, trying and trying to pool the powers. All that energy and intent put out into the universe.”
“And it came back three-fold in him,” Levi guessed.
“At least. And ain’t it just like the universe, or God, or the goddess to return the lesson to us in the form of a skinny boy witch that the world doesn’t even know exists?”
“You think his powers are a slap in the face of witches?” Darci asked.
“Partly. But I also know, to the depth of my being, that Declan O’Carroll is here for a bigger reason than any of us can even guess. And it falls to us to guide him and guard him.”
“How?” Darci’s voice. “He created a magical robot, for God’s sake.”
“He created a shell, and something moved in. Something that lives in this land, has lived here long before people. The native peoples might call it a spirit of the land. My kind would say it is an elemental being.”
“Why did it move in, and what keeps under control?” Darci asked.
“It likes my lad. Jest as his wee dragon of the Air does. And nothing controls them. These things don’t tend to notice us people, or if they do, it is like a man scratching at a flea.”
“Is Declan their pet flea?” Levi asked.
“Declan is nobody’s pet anything. I don’t know what the connection is, but these things favor the lad, ‘tis all I can tell ye.”
My feet had never fully stopped and by now I was far enough that Aunt Ash’s voice was very soft on her last sentence. I heard a few murmurs as I headed down the hill toward the forest, but my brain was whirling with too many thoughts to focus at all.
Inside the treeline, I found Robbie lying against his pile, right where I had first made his form. His clay head moved my way, but I held out a hand. “No, Robbie. It’s time to rest. My chore is done, and you’ve done me a big favor. But as Aunt Ash says, it’s not right for a witch to ask nature to change for him or her, but that the witch should change for nature.”
I sat on the rocks next to him, my hands on his arm and shoulder. “So, let’s have you go back to rest, my friend, right here, right in your woods and your rocks. Your work is done, at least for now. And I will visit every day when I can.”
I felt a warmth from him, a wave of comfort, acceptance, contentment, and friendship. As I watched, his form faded from my Sight. Animated one moment, still the next, old wood and dried crumbling mud the last. But I could still feel him, deep inside the mound of stones, the remnants of an old farm stone fence corner, at home in the earth, and I could visit him anytime I needed to, just as I always had.
Herding Wolves
What is it to be an Alpha? To lead, discipline, and even punish. What keeps a pack together? What binds wolves to a common cause?
“I don’t like this,” the new girl said. “It’s loud and kind of scary and I suck at it.”
“Scary?” Holly asked, incredulous. Her mouth is faster than mine, almost all of the time. “You’re a freaking werewolf.”
Kristin, who was just seventeen and had been a were for all of two months, a blonde polite Icelander from Maine, ignored the comments and turned her gaze on me. She was a little passive but anyone who can keep themselves sane after their first Change, remain a wolf for over thirty days, and not kill anyone had to have some serious backbone.
“I suck at it too,” I said. “My dad taught me to shoot as a kid, but shotguns have always been my thing, not pistols. But you never know when you might need to pick up a gun and kill a monster… or at least make one pause long enough for someone else to kill it,” I said, thinking back to China.
“Here, line up your right first thumb knuckle with your left thumb’s second knuckle like I showed you,” Bruce Devany said, ever calm, ever professional. Or maybe it was because he was a true Mainer, pragmatic and conservative. He repositioned her hands and I noticed her scent changed slightly. She was attracted to him.
“Shit, newbie, focus on the gun, not the dude,” Holly said, her own nostrils flaring.
Kristin immediately blushed and her scent changed to embarrassment, but Devany just smiled and gently tapped her left supporting hand. “Tight grip with that one and keep your right hand a little soft so your trigger finger stays loose. Now squeeze the trigger. The gun can’t hurt you, not really. As Holly pointed out, we’re all werewolves and that makes us really tough.”
Still embarrassed, the girl focused on the target seven yards away, her brow furrowing a little.
The Springfield barked out a sharp report and a little 9mm-sized black hole appeared on the left side of the target.
“Good. Do it again, but this time don’t let go of the trigger right away,” Bruce directed.
She fired another shot, this one high and also left. “Now I want you to let out the trigger slowly till you feel it reset, then stop immediately,” he said.
Despite our hearing protection, we all heard the little click as the mechanism reset for another shot.
“Now squeeze off the third shot.”
She did, and the resulting hole was much, much closer to center.
“Excellent!” Devany said. “It’s all the little things that make a difference: grip, stance, short trigger reset.”
“But why do we even need guns?” Kristin asked.
My other two wolves kept silent, which wasn’t a shock with Devany but definitely out of character for my Jersey wolf.
“Relying on one set of weapons or skills is a mistake,” I said. “Having multiple options is much, much better.”
“But I’m stronger and faster than even a big man. And if I use that strength, I might not have to kill,” Kristin said.
“Perhaps. But that target in front of you is a split second from shooting Devany with a silver bullet,” I said, then lifted my own pistol and shot the target three times, twice in the middle, once in the head.
“Could you have stopped him that fast from seven yards away without a gun?” I asked.
She frowned, staring at the target.
“Thought you said you sucked with handguns?” Devany chimed in.
“I do. I’m okay at seven yards but at fifteen and beyond, my groups open way, way up,” I said.
“But why? Why all the killing?” Kristin asked.
I knew from the Suttons that she was averse to killing and that she was very young.
“Kristin, you’re in a different world now. One full of dangers and risks, although, as you know, the one you left in Maine wasn’t all roses and sunshine,” I said.
“I know that. But everything we do or talk about seems to involve killing,” she said.
“Correction,” I said. “Everything that we,” I pointed at Devany, Holly, and myself, “do is preparing for kill or be killed. You’re here to learn to control your wolf and your ability to Change. You have to have those under control. And if you chose to go to Arcane in the fall, you’ll have lots of classes in self-defense, so a little introduction now is good for you.”
She was frowning and chewing her lip.
“What?” I a
sked.
“Why are you all so focused on this… violence stuff?”
“Because violence got all of us into being werewolves, and violence doesn’t leave you alone because you don’t like it,” Holly said before I could get my answer out. I gave her a glare and she shut her mouth before any more words gushed out.
“She’s not wrong,” I told Kristin. “Plus, events have placed us in a position where it’s not a matter of if, but when we’ll face hostiles.”
“You mean because of Declan?” she asked.
“Absolutely. I am bound to him and him to me. And he is instrumental in protecting this world and probably another.”
“I get that he’s the Warlock, but he can just wave his hand and throw a car or something.”
“But he can’t see the bad guys sneaking up behind him,” Devany said. “He’s incredibly powerful, but he’s still just human. No eyes in the back of his head, no regeneration of deadly wounds.”
“So we’re the eyes that watch over him, the ears that listen for his enemies, the noses scenting for danger,” Holly said.
I smiled at both of them. It was my mission, my charge, to watch over him, but they had fully adopted it as our pack mission. And both were all in.
The door to the range opened and Declan walked in, earmuffs and eye protection already on.
“Hey, Omega said you all were already at it,” he said, his eyes going to mine first and longest before taking in the others.
“You look exhausted. Why are you here?” I asked, taking in his scent, his features, the sound of his voice. Having a second nature, a wolfen nature, changes how you see everything, how you feel about everything. The bonds of pack are strong; the bonds of mates are even stronger.
I could smell his exhaustion, see the tiny trembles in his limbs, hear the fatigue in his voice, and most importantly, feel it through our bond. He’d been up all night, communing with elementals, using his connection to Robbie to work on reaching out for greater and greater distances.
“Gotta master this cannon,” he said, pulling his pistol from its case. “Then I can take a nap.”